Indians beat White Sox 8-4

If the White Sox were an old record, it would be broken. If they were an iPod, it would have only one song. If they were a movie, it would be "Groundhog Day."

Sorry if you've read this before, but the Sox lost to a rookie Sunday because they couldn't get on base or get hits when they did get on base.

File this 8-4 loss to Cleveland under "old news."

Even the manager has run out of adjectives, having used up "boring" and "dead" and "embarrassing" and "awful" at various times.

"I ran out of bullets," Ozzie Guillen said. "We don't know what to do. We've tried different lineups, we motivate people, we work hard, we try to be positive. Everything we try doesn't work.

"Maybe if I go crazy with the media and tell how my team [plays], I might wake them up. But it's wasting my time. I'm just going to say hopefully we show up tomorrow for those two games ready to play and see what happens."

"Tomorrow" would be Monday, when the AL Central-leading Tigers come in for a five-game series. The Sox are 4 1/2 games behind.

"We're not looking at the standings right now," said Scott Podsednik, one of the few Sox who is hitting. "The media has been asking questions about Detroit coming in because they're leading the Central, but every game is important, every series is important ... so it's just a matter of bouncing back and trying to get the bats going."

For those new to this, here's a recitation of the oft-repeated facts:

*The Sox have lost five of their last six games.

*They have scored in only six of the last 31 innings. And they have scored more than one run in only one of those -- the fifth inning Sunday, when Alexei Ramirez hit a three-run homer after two walks.

*They are 2-for-39 with runners in scoring position in the last six games.

*They are hitting .189 on the homestand, which has produced a 2-4 record to last-place teams Oakland and Cleveland.

*And pitchers facing them for the first time are 8-1 in 11 starts this season, the latest winner being Indians lefty David Huff.

"We can't come up with a big hit," right fielder Jermaine Dye said. "That's just the way it is right now. We have to find a way when times are tough to have fun and enjoy the game and keep battling."

They were in a 1-0 hole after the first, 3-0 after the second, 4-0 after the fourth and 6-0 after the top of the fifth, thanks to another poor start by Bartolo Colon.

Colon (3-6, 4.23 ERA) was bombarded for back-to-back homers in two innings, including the second, when Chris Gimenez hit his second and Luis Valbuena hit his first in the major leagues.

After his five-inning performance, Colon could be battling for his job with Jose Contreras, who is returning to the rotation Monday.

So the Sox limp into their biggest series of the season.

"It's not fun," said Brian Anderson, who is 0-for-12 on the homestand and struck out with the bases loaded Sunday. "The team is not where we want to be."